Sean Penn Introduces Ukrainian Documentary 'Black Sunflowers' at San Francisco's Doc Stories
Sean Penn introduced the documentary Black Sunflowers on Saturday at SFFILM's Doc Stories in San Francisco, according to Variety. The screening took place at the Vogue Theatre, starting at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time on 7 November.
Penn is also an executive producer of the film. He signed on before Black Sunflowers premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. Another executive producer, Dianna Agron, took part in the post-screening question-and-answer session.
The film was directed by James Marcus Haney. It follows young Ukrainians coming of age under martial law, the emergency rule that lets a government impose wartime measures, and during the war itself. The Toronto festival describes it as a look at twentysomething Ukrainians growing up during wartime. The running time is 97 minutes.
Doc Stories is a documentary festival, and this year's 12th edition ran from 5 to 8 November. Ava DuVernay's 14th, a Netflix film, opened the programme on 5 November. Eleven short documentaries were shown across the four days.
Other Oscar-qualified films on the programme included Sam Pollard's Tutu and J.M. Harper's Soul Patrol. Those titles sit alongside 14th in a lineup that aimed at awards-season audiences as well as local viewers.
Laura Poitras also attended the festival with her short film They're Here, which she co-directed with Rachel Lauren Mueller. The film is about ICE agents, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, operating in Minneapolis. Poitras appeared at the festival alongside Penn, who was there on the same weekend.
Anne Lai is executive director of SFFILM, the organisation that runs the festival. The festival closed on Sunday, after its last screenings.
